I will always find you
by Inanis Incedeco
Summary: The battle is over, but scars will always remain. Leliana finds her lover half-dead on the roof of Fort Drakon and has to take care of her.


_Author's Note: This was written as per a request for a continuation of "The Jaws of Hell"._

 _ _If you wish to make prompt me with a story suggestion, please_ _feel free to leave a review, send me a PM_ _, or_ _search for greyassassin24 on Tumblr,_ _and click on the 'Prompts' tab.__

 _ _Sorry if the way of story-telling is a bit off. I haven't written in first person in a long time, but the format just felt right for this._ _

An empty void calls off in the distance, and it's all that I'm aware of. Distant screams and shouts sound, but they seem forever away. Screams carrying a league across the darkness...

And then... silence. An eerie, unnatural stillness.

 _Am I dead?_

I can hear a voice, distant, far away. For a second I think it might be a demon, but it's sweeter than a demon's, and oddly familiar, although I can't place it in the haze of my mind...

Then the darkness is broken by flickering sparks of fiery red and gold that dance in the blackness, and then the whole darkness breaks open when I blink, giving way to the real world.

I open my eyes slowly to a world that is blurry, out of focus. I'm... warm, comfortable, but... where am I?

I blink again, forcing my foggy memory to remember. _Fort Drakon... Darkspawn everywhere... a Dragon as big as the Circle and black as night..._

 _The Archdemon grabs me by the teeth, and shakes it's head around with me inside still, like a rabid dog with a hare in it's jaws. I scream and release all the mana I have in my veins, slamming magic down it's throat, and it lets go of me. I go sailing through the skies, and crash into a stone-brick pillar._

 _I force my eyes open, and I look just in time to see Luna, my fellow Warden, charge the beast, a greatsword twice her height in her hands. It bites at her, but she slides under it's mouth, and slices it's entire throat in half. I call her name distantly, knowing what comes next to the Warden who kills the demon, but my words fail me as the world turns to darkness._

 _We won._

I open my eyes wider, clearing my vision, and I realize that I'm in a bed that I don't recognize, with stone bricks making up the ceiling above me, safe and warm under a half dozen silken blankets, although I'm sore and exhausted. And I'm... naked? Why am I naked?

I turn my head to see if I can tell anything more, and realize that I'm not alone in the room.

Leliana, my sweet, darling Leliana, is sitting in an ornate rocking chair, a weary head slumped in sleep. Dark lines underline her sweet blue eyes, and her sleep looks dreamless, restless.

For a moment I consider not waking her, but she looks so distressed in her slumber, and... right now, I think that I need the love of my life by my side.

"Leli." I croak, my voice tired and dry, more a gasp than word. I swallow hard before trying again. "Leliana."

At the second attempt, her adorable eyes flutter open, wide and confused until she meets my own.

"Mon Ange!" She cries, a wild, delighted smile instantly replacing the confusion that had been on her face only moments earlier. She stands so fast that she almost stumbles on her own feet, and comes to sit on the bed beside me. She cups my face, and lays down to kiss me, capturing my lips in her own, a fiery, wildly passionate kiss.

 _Not what I was expecting, but I'll take it._

"Oh, Mon Ange!" She cries before leaning down to kiss me again on the cheek. "I was so worried about you." Another kiss. "We... oh Maker, I'm so glad that you're alright!" Another kiss.

I give a little laugh at her enthusiasm. Rolling onto my back again, I pull her sweet, lithe body with me, cuddling her, and I eagerly meet her lips with my own in another kiss that's sweeter than honey and warmer than Spring.

"How are you feeling?" She asks softly as her warm fingers run across my skin.

"Better." My voice is small, but happy, likely from the pure, unadulterated joy I feel from just being beside her. "Although, why am I naked?"

A lovely blush flushes onto her cheeks. "I..." She rubs the back of her neck, and I giggle. "Your clothes were ruined, and... well removing them made it easier for me to take care of you."

I laugh. I don't mind at all, not so long as it was her that was caring for me. I wouldn't have even minded if she had done taken... advantage of the situation either...

"Have you been taking care of me?" I ask, deciding to spare her the embarrassment of any further questioning of my nudity.

"Mmm-hmm." She murmurs. "After the Darkspawn fled, I ran to Fort Drakon and found you. I've been taking care of you ever since.

"Thank you." I whisper, remembering the body breaking pain I was in. If anyone had to take care of me, I'm glad she was the one who would. I suppose that also somewhat explains why I'm naked.

"So," I say in my happy voice as I hold her close. "Where _are_ we exactly?"

"We're still in Denerim." She murmurs against my skin. "I brought you to the Royal Palace to take care of you."

"How long have I been here?" I inquire, noting how sore and exhausted I am.

"Almost two weeks."

My eyes shoot open in disbelief. "Two weeks!?" She nods in grim confirmation. "...Oh."

"I'm sorry, love." She murmurs in quiet affection and comfort. "You were hurt really badly. I've spent the last two weeks watching over you, making sure that you are taken care of and your wounds are healing properly."

"T-thank you for taking such good care of me." I whisper reverently before I pull her back, and inspect her face. I can still see lines under her eyes, and there's a new scar on her chin. "What about you, my love? Were you hurt at all in the battle?"

She gives a small chuckle and a smile curves her lips. "Oh, my angel." She shakes her head a little. "Don't you worry about me. I wasn't the one who faced down a Dragon."

I shake my head bemusedly. "Oh, my sweet Orlesian Bard." I kiss her on the nose, making her giggle. "I love you so much."

"I love you more."

I wiggle a finger in front of her face. "Oh no, don't you play that game with me. I stayed sane living in a tower for sixteen years with nothing more than a handful of books. I can be _very_ persistent."

She laughs at that. "That sounds like something out of one of those old romance books I used to read."

I throw my head back and laugh. "I does." I admit. "If only I were some princess guarded by a dragon, instead of some orphan girl trapped in a bleak, lifeless prison. Although," I lean into her ear, and whisper. "The heroine did get her girl."

She captures my lips in a loving kiss, her lips warm and soft on mine, and my spirit soars in ecstasy. Maker, I could kiss her every moment for the rest of my life. In fact, I could stand to spend the rest of my life just in her presence, basking in her beauty: Her soft, warm, mature skin, her fiery hair that glitters in the sunlight, her lips that are as warm as a Spring day...

She pulls back, and I'm left more than a little breathless, and her eyes catch mine, and I lose what's left of my breath, and a small laugh under her breath makes my heart skip.

"So what happens now?" I ask after a moment of silence, holding her tightly. "We saved the world from the Blight. The war is over. Where am I supposed to do now?"

She shrugs a little, as best she can considering that her arms are being held to her body by my embrace. "You can do whatever you like. You've finished your duty as a Grey Warden, and your life is your own now."

I shake my head a little. "I've never been given that much freedom in my entire life. I can't even remember ever going outside until Duncan conscripted me. I don't know what to do now."

She curls into my arms. "Whatever you choose to do, I'll be by your side while you do it." My heart skips a beat at the honest conviction in her words. "Alistair _has_ asked that I tell him when you wake up, and that he plans on giving you some title or other," She looks over her shoulder at the door. "Which I should probably go do."

"Oh no." I wrap my arms even tighter around her, and she looks back at me. "Your girlfriend is sick and in pain, and she needs you right now."

She laughs a little under her breath. "Oh, my sweet little Warden, always tugging at the heartstrings." She nuzzles my neck. "I can't resist those big eyes of yours, or your soft little voice. Of course I'll stay."

I rub her chin, and kiss her softly, and she returns with gentle enthusiasm. She cups my face, and her tongue glides gently across my lips, and I return in kind.

I break away, gasping for air as she kisses my neck. "I love you." I murmur. "With all my heart."

"I love you too, my angel. And you know," She lifts her head, and whispers in my ear. "The answer is still yes."

I raise an eyebrow. "The answer?"

She giggles. "In case you've forgotten, silly: when you left me at the gates of Denerim, you asked that, if you came back, that you could marry me. The answer is still yes."

My breath is stolen from me at her honest words, and I lean up and kiss her again. "I love you." I whisper again. I don't know enough words to convey the love and bliss in my heart to her, as my spirit soars in elation.

I hold her close, feeling her heart beat, and I close my eyes in bliss. I don't know what comes next, but with my lover in my arms, I will never be lost.


End file.
